Maine Mountain Chamber Music

ArtsFarmington is excited to announce the return of Maine Mountain Chamber Music to Nordica Auditorium on Sunday April 24th at 2:00 PM. MMCM founders Yuri Funahashi, piano, and Laurie Kennedy, viola, will be joined by violinist Charles Dimmick and cellist Leo Eguchi. The program consists of Zoltan Kodaly’s  Duo for Violin and Cello  and Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet in C minor.

Adult tickets will be $15, those 18 and under are free as are UMF students with ID.  Nordica Auditorium is in Merrill Hall (224 Main Street) at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Grammy-Award winning violinist Charles Dimmick enjoys a varied and distinguished career as concertmaster, soloist, and chamber musician. He is co-concertmaster of the Boston Pops Esplanade, and concertmaster of both the Portland Symphony and the Rhode Island Philharmonic.  In the summers, he can be found serving as the concertmaster of the New Hampshire Music Festival and has appeared as guest concertmaster for the Arizona Music Fest and the Winston-Salem Symphony.  A frequent soloist, Dimmick has garnered praise, packed houses, and received standing ovations for what the Portland Press Herald has called his “luxurious and stellar performances” and his “technical and artistic virtuosity.” Dimmick performs on a 1784 Joseph Gagliano violin.

Leo Eguchi, cello, has been described as “copiously skilled and confident” (New York Times) with performances that were "ravishing" (New Bedford Standard-Times) and "played with passion and vitality" (Boston Music Intellegencer). A native of Michigan, Eguchi has performed extensively across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. He enjoys an active and multi-faceted performance schedule, including performances with the Portland Symphony, and frequent appearances with the Boston Pops. A strong advocate of new music, Eguchi has worked closely with, and premiered dozens of solo and chamber works by many notable composers. Eguchi is on the music faculty of Boston College, and is the Assistant Conductor of the MIT Symphony Orchestra.

Laurie Kennedy, principal violist of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, retired in January, 2022, after 40 seasons. She is co-Director and violist with Maine Mountain Chamber Music, founded with Yuri Funahashi in 2002. She performed every summer since 1977 at the Sebago-Long Lake Chamber Music Festival, and was Music Director there for many years, creating “some of the most evocative programming on the Maine summer music scene”(Portland Press Herald 2011), and presenting “chamber music one would expect to hear at Lincoln Center” (PPH 2014).  She is highly regarded as designer and narrator of “Music for Kids” programs for Sebago-Long Lake Chamber Music Festival, and “Kinderkonzerts” for the PSO. She resides in Carthage, Maine.

Pianist Yuri Funahashi has performed extensively in Europe, Japan, Canada and Australia and in many of the major halls in the U.S. including the Kennedy Center, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Music Center in Los Angeles, Jones Hall in Houston and the 92nd Street Y in New York City. She has also been heard on many college campuses across the U.S. As a member of the Festival Chamber Music of New York City, Funahashi performs regularly in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and has been a guest artist at many chamber music festivals. She has collaborated frequently with the Verdehr Trio, has appeared in performances with the Brentano String Quartet, the Cassatt String Quartet, The Daedalus Quartet, and is co-founder and co-director of the Maine Mountain Chamber Music series. She has recorded for Musical Heritage and John Marks Records and is on the faculty at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Arts Farmington is affiliated with the University of Maine in Farmington